[ Clips created a private message with Yui (1) ]
Hey, Yui! It's me, Y/N!: You
[ Yesterday at 11:35 ]
~
Yui: how do I know this isn't another trick?
[ Today at 4:27 ]
Try and find me today. We'll talk.: You
The message sat there like it never existed. Yui had seen it, she was sure of it. A week was almost up and she was worried Yui would never get back to her. At the moment every muscle and every fiber in Y/N's being ached like nothing she had felt before. The training and preparation she was building up would all be worth it in the end. The others who didn't build up their training were going to fail in the end.
Y/N was hobbling down the hall, to the meeting room at the end. It was a bit late, the cool breeze that she could feel coming through the vents giving her the crutch she needed to feel like she could still go on knowing that there was still life outside these walls. This place felt like a prison with all the schedules they had and rules they had to follow.
A man held a hand up to Y/N's form, forcing her to stop mid-step. Her hair was still wet from the rock climbing.
"Excuse me, I saw you climbing the rock wall with a man earlier. Was he a trainee as well?" She recognized him as the guard that approached the woman who manned the rock walls in the middle of the training grounds. Y/N's face flushed slightly at the thought of the other male.
"Um, well, I suppose so. I didn't really talk with him," she cleared her throat, "but I don't know where he went off to."
The guard nodded, marching off in the opposite direction she was heading.
Honestly, she had no clue who that man was. She naturally became flustered when thinking back about him and what he did in the artificial rain.
Presently she sat at one of the tables, deciding to strengthen her mind rather than her body for once. She had been training all week, she deserved a break, did she not? Y/N took out her phone and opened the unknown app. This app still didn't have a name, just an icon. There were some people talking in the world chat so she decided to check it out.
Anon 32: Did you hear about that one dude who tried to make a run for it across the warehouse?
Anon 19: ofc i was in his group
Anon 46: WAIT,,,so that's TRUE?
I was in his group too.: You
Y/N didn't know if revealing that was such a good idea, but she decided to do it anyways.
Anon 3: If only someoen recorded it :/
Anon 3: someone*
Anon 10: arent we like, not allowed to post vids here?
You can't post things of your face or private info. That's all I know. : You
Y/N left the public chat, deciding to not get into anything else while she was there. She knew that every contestant had different talents, some useless to the maze itself, others quite the opposite. Y/N decided to think over the events that had happened during the past week.
Day two
After the surprising events that had happened the first day there, Y/N decided to head back to the training grounds immediately when it opened. She was the first of three people to arrive and decided to visit the throwing weapons section. There was a man there who was openly trying to light a cigarette in his mouth. His gaze switched over to the female who was heading over and turned to the section he was supposed to supervise. The employee nudged a red button and the boxes opened.
There were red targets on the back of a wooden shape of a human. One target was on the head, one on the chest, the other on the abdomen. She guessed it was to make it more human-like. There was a metal table with dangerous items laid out onto it. A throwing ax, knives, darts.
Y/N chose the knives.
The small weapon felt comfortable in her dominant hand. The heaviest part of the knife was the handle, so she switched to the blade, holding the metal gently. The female had thrown a knife before, but that was when she was camping with her father. One of the only few memories she had with him.
Why was she thinking about him anyways?
The rest of her day was filled with trying out different throwing styles with the weapons and array of items she could choose from. She had gained a few cuts on her thumb, but they weren't deep at all.
Day three
On the third day, Y/N decided to use the endurance training section of the grounds. There were a few others before her, one she recognized from the bus. Black hair and crystal blue eyes. The male glanced at the H/C-haired girl, giving a friendly smile as a greeting. She did the same back to him.
"You're that girl from the bus." He commented, tilting his head towards Y/N who was on the treadmill beside him. Girl from the bus? He huffed with frustration, none directed towards the other.
"I-I mean...the one at the front," he tried using his hands to speak, fumbling over his accent, "next to...Yui."
Her lips parted, "ah," she responded with a laugh, "yea. I'm Y/N."
The black-haired male seemed relieved that she wasn't angry about his first attempt.
"I'm Sasha," he replied with a bigger smile. "I'm...still learning English."
Y/N made an 'o' shape with her mouth as she pressed a few buttons on the machine she stood on. The sudden jolt coming from the belt caused her heart to jump and she attempted to calm it down.
"Well, you're doing a great job so far." She encouraged. Sasha nodded in response and the two trained in delicate silence, something the two rather enjoyed. Sasha left first, speaking up from the past hour of silence they shared, and disappeared outside. Y/N had made another friend.
Day four
It seemed that her muscles and joints were aching when Y/N first woke on day four. She decided to comply with their cries of anguish and relaxed for a bit.
She took her phone from the charger- wait. It hadn't been charging?
Y/N's brows furrowed together and she brushed some stray hairs out of her face as she sat up and took her phone off the bedside table. It was at eighty-seven percent battery, not the worst, but she could've sworn the first thing she did before bed was place her phone on the charger.
The girl turned her phone on and noticed that there was a timeout on unlocking her phone. The timeout had only a few minutes left, but this was a dangerous sign. Someone had snuck into her room during the night and tried to unlock her phone.
Y/N got out of her bed, much to her muscles dismay, and opened the door to her room. The female had turned on each light in the place and then shuffled over to her front door. She tried the door. Unlocked.
Whoever had succeeded in entering her small apartment didn't do a very good job of leaving the scene. Two pieces of evidence. Yet, the only way to get into her place was with the key and she had triple-checked that it was on the opposite bedside table inside the drawer. She had switched up the place it stayed just because of the suspicion the very first night here.
I think someone broke into my apartment.: You
Anon 18: Wh
Anon 12: .
Anon 38: u sure not a trick?
Anon 29: c'mon it's a joke nobody can do that.
Anon 7: It's obvi that they slept with someone..
Anon 34: Anon 13, pm me.
For a moment, Y/N thought Anon 34 was speaking to someone else, but she didn't notice anyone who had 13 in their name and realized it was her.
I'd rather not. Sorry.: You
I'll ask an employee or something.: You
Anon 46: baaaaait 🙄
Y/N sighed and set her phone back on the charger and left the room, suspicions burning at the back of her mind.
Day five
Geez. Why was everyone against her?
Y/N had arrived late to the training facility and someone had been waiting for her. A group of people standing behind a blonde girl with tan skin. The girl that had been giving the H/C haired girl specifically a death glare. There it was again.
She was not in the mood for this. Y/N had her apartment broken into the night before this and had spent last night up watching her door through the symmetrical square in the wall. Nothing appeared, a waste of a good night's rest.
The woman with blue eyes, not as crystal as Sasha's, more menacing than his, pointed at the protagonist with an adamant look.
"We're sparring today. I'll put you in place," she demanded. What? What had Y/N done to deserve this? She glanced to the people who stood behind the tan girl, her posse and sighed. She had gotten them eager for a fight; made them think Y/N was some sort of loser in this place that didn't deserve to be here.
The girl in front of her crossed her arms with a smirk, "but if you don't want to, I guess we'll just have to prove who's better in the maze."
"Who said I declined exactly?" Y/N blurted out. She had enough of this girl's attention-seeking methods. Truthfully, Y/N had no interest in sparring with her, but she was very eager to put this contestant in her place.
Two years of self-defense classes, don't fail me now! Y/N thought as they made their way over to the sparring grounds. The man with the cig was standing there, one eyebrow raised as the H/L, H/C haired girl passed him with an intense look.
"No weapons." Y/N spouted as she stood on the other side of the dirt floor, catching the other off-guard.
"No, we use knives."
The man who stood by, attentive to the quarrel, spoke up, "no weapons."
The female smiled while the blonde growled, muttering something under her breath as she stood on the other side of the box. Her little group of followers standing nearby, breaths hitched for a fight. It seemed that the others from different training grounds had spotted the small scuffle and wandered over to watch. A whistle was blown and the fight had started.
One second after the whistle was blown, Y/N dropped low, a fighting stance she had seen many times before. A look of surprise washed over the blonde's face as she lunged forward. The E/C-eyed girl caught the other's torso and leaned forward with all her might, bringing them both down to the ground. It was almost like a hug, but a painful hug.
Y/N wrapped her legs around the girl's torso and grabbed the blonde's right wrist, which was moved for a hit to the side. She brought the girl's right hand across her chest and grabbed the other, which she had brought up again, crisscrossed over the other arm.
"The H/C haired chick wins." The employee who stood at the side of the box announced and Y/N released her hold, standing up and off the other, who seemed out of it. Her face was flushed with anger.
"Again!" She shouted, getting up quickly. Y/N reeled back, an unexpected hit at her jaw catching her off-guard. The woman had backed the other up to the decorated wall. At the moment, all Y/N was focused on was the blonde in front of her so she didn't notice the ginger appear next to the two and caught the other's forearm.
"You've lost already. Don't proceed any further." He spoke in a calm voice, but the girl against the wall could tell he had surprised himself with his actions.
"But, Elliot!" She seethed, her hands clenching. The male shook his head and pulled her back, looked to Y/N with a slight smile, then wandered off.
Y/N now noticed there was a literal crowd watching.
Day six
Y/N had used most of her time talking to people around her. Some had wanted to talk to her first since they had heard about the fight with Samantha. She replied, saying that it was deemed a spar session. She pieced it together that Samantha was the rude blonde.
Truth be told, the female felt a bit prideful about yesterday. Maybe her inner rage came out to do the work while sleep-deprived Y/N sat back and watched.
So far, Y/N had a small, but reliable friend group.
Kade, the epitome of a California beach boy. He had dirty blonde hair, slightly tan skin, and light blue eyes. He wasn't very techy and had never used the app after the first day it appeared on his phone. Despite that, he always made the people around him smile with his dumb humor.
Sarah, a sweet and shy girl. She had deep brown hair and brown eyes with pale skin. She was quiet around them at first but soon warmed up to the others. Y/N found out she was an amazing artist and Sarah showed off some of her paintings. Sarah admitted she was a bit disappointed they didn't supply that here; it would be great camo practice.
There was Sasha, black hair and bright blue eyes with a heavy Russian accent. He had recently moved to the US, that's why he was learning English. Being accepted as a contestant for One Killer Maze shocked him, but he was excited about it.
Lastly, there was Barbara. She had red hair and hazel eyes. She was a bit on the short side, nothing compared to Sasha's tall demeanor. Barbara had explained that Samantha told lies about Y/N when she was around her friend group. About how Y/N was cheating the system and never used the training facility despite others countering that claim; those people were immediately iced.
It didn't matter to Y/N what lies were spread about her. It was her actions that mattered.
Now, present day. Day seven. The final preparation of the maze.
Y/N had heard nothing from Yui. She had seen nothing from Yui. The same went with her sister.
It seemed like a set-up when Yui had passed by her door, unaccompanied by the group of employees she had seen at the beginning. She tried blinking, wondering if this was a dream, but with the shock that it wasn't, she jumped out of her apartment's door in a hurry.
"Yui!" She spoke with a call like she hadn't seen a friend in a long time. The dark-haired female turned around, her eyebrows raised and she blinked in surprise when she saw Y/N.
"Oh, Y/N," she breathed out, her shoulders slumping over with relaxation. Did Yui think she was someone else? Y/N brushed that thought away and pulled out her phone.
She opened her lock screen, tapping the mysterious app quickly, "I-I couldn't find you at all...it's not a trick," she showed Yui their messages, careful not to tap back to show off all the other private conversations. "What did you mean a trick?"
The previous victor looked to the right and left of the hall, sighing, "can we go to your room? Just the doorway."
She complied, leading the woman to the doorway of her room and Yui closed it, leaning against the frame with a sigh and closed her eyes, only to open them again with a much more...intense stare.
"Someone messaged me...pretending to be you," Yui confessed. Y/N opened her mouth in shock, but Yui held up a hand, so she stopped, "right away I knew it wasn't you. They asked about private details in the maze. You don't seem like someone to do that."
Once Yui finished the H/C haired girl opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She was breathless with shock and rage and many more emotions she couldn't convey at the current moment. Yui lifted a hand and rubbed her temple.
"I remember what happened in there. Sally led me through Slenderman's forest, the vines always scared me," she chuckled, anxiety and confusion filling her eyes. Y/N furrowed her brows, her mind beginning to whirl with this new information. She had never experienced this across the screen. Has she missed an episode?
There were voices on the other side of the door, then the closing of a door, then the knock of a door, not hers. Yui straightened up and placed her cold hands on Y/N's shoulders; she stiffened.
"Messages. Have you gotten strange messages?"
Y/N bit her lip, "not on the app-"
"No, no, anywhere else?" The voices got louder.
Y/N nodded, her hair bobbing, "email."
Yui's eyes stretched wide, the knock on the H/C haired girl's door falling on deaf ears.
"Check your spam."
Yui opened the door, explaining to the two employees that she had just needed to use the restroom and Y/N was the only one who answered. The two looked at her and the protagonist agreed. They left, leaving Y/N worried and anxious.
She checked her phone immediately. What she had found....a large number of spam emails from One Killer Maze with odd taglines. This didn't seem like a thing they would do though.
bgn
y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n
n0tice 1
you're so funny lolololol
01s
01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 01110100
:(
:)
n0tice 2
when will you be smart for once?
dy
a few left
wtch
I saw you today ~
NOTICE
y/n~ :( you haven't seen these yet. who knows when?
10s
01000100 01010010 01001111 01010111 01001110
knw
you seem to already
What were these? They were all different, except the binary ones.
Suddenly, the emails were pushed down once. Whoever was the one that was sending these had sent one just a second ago.
finally
FINALLY. Yui had to help you :/
A day before doesn't seem to help things. I guess all I can say is...I'll see you soon? :)
Y/N felt a sudden pit of dread in the bottom of her heart.
One more email was sent. It was a picture. A screenshot to be exact.
:*
S/N L/N: Did you put this key on my bed????
S/N L/N: ?????
God...: You
You're so annoying. Give me a break.: You
I could have. I couldn't have.: You
S/N L/N: what does it do/??
Opens doors. What do you think a key does?: You
S/N L/N: ://
S/N L/N: I'll figure it out myself.
Y/N stared at the image. A key? What did a key have to do with things? Her mind was already racing with thoughts about tomorrow's event. Could her sister have....? No, there was no chance....but, she had been acting shady recently. Perhaps it was her?
gl
rooting for you. come see me when you arrive in the maze :)))
[deleted]
Y/N headed into her room, text displayed on the TV screen.
An alarm shall be set for 7 in the morning. You are expected to stand outside your rooms at 8 AM in the given attire for the maze.
You will be guided to two gender-specific rooms and checked for any items hidden on your person.
Please be kind.
May the best survivor win.